1969 Guard Captain

June 1, 1969, Randolph, NJ. Color Guard captain (and future flugel horn virtuoso) Bob Ruth leads the corps around the track on one of his grueling exercises. We often covered 10 miles (40 laps around the track) if Bob felt we performed below standards. We were probably being reprimanded this time because assistant drum major Pat Haynes forgot his hat.

1969 Crispus Attucks Day

Newark marked an annual parade for BSGK. As one of the few events in the 1960s celebrating an African American (Crispus Attuck is a Revolutionary War hero) and in predominantly black Newark, the spectators were many and they spilled into the street along the parade route. The corps decided to organize both the horn line and color guard in single fronts that spanned the entire street to keep the crowds at bay, as shown in this news clipping (courtesy of Mike Diaz).

1969 Bob Ruth

A rare photo of Bob Ruth the season before his defection from the color guard.
Not shown (left of Bob) is Dick Burns considering the merits of Ruth becoming a virtuoso horn player for the 1970 season.
We all agreed that when it came to Bob's horn playing, nothing was better.

1969 New French Horns

Mike Diaz shows off our new G-F French Horns by Smith at an early 1969 season parade. Also shown is Erich Schweikert, second from Mike's left. Photo courtesy of Mike Diaz, who is a member of the BSGK Alumni corps.

1969 Milford, CT

August 2, 1969, Second from left on tenor drum: Matt Denison; Contrabass in the background: Gary Dickelman; Foreground snare: Bobby Craig; Background tenor: Mike Teliszewski; Foreground snares: Jimmy O'Hara, Matt ??. In typical fashion, the drum judge is diggin' the line and has forgotten about his clipboard.